Inkjet technology has advanced to the point where it is beginning to supplant traditional industrial printing, patterning, and production techniques. Inkjet technology is being used to deposit functional materials with unique physical properties. For example, inkjet technology can be used to produce LCD TFT transistor, OLED device, solar cells, and microcircuits. Using inkjet technology instead of traditional techniques to produce these items can save money, materials, and reduce waste. Inkjet technology includes depositing droplets onto a substrate.
The material being deposited may not have the fluid properties that would allow it to be used directly in the ink jetting process. In this situation, the material being deposited is dissolved as a solute in a solvent, forming an inkjetable solution. The inkjetable solution has the desired properties of an inkjetable fluid. In the inkjet printing process, small droplets containing a solute with the desired properties and a solvent are deposited onto a substrate. After the droplet reaches the substrate, the solvent evaporates, and only the solute is left, forming a residual pattern. The residual pattern is a direct result of the manner in which the solvent evaporates. The final pattern of the deposited solute directly determines the desired final product quality.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for simulating the evaporation of a solvent from a fluid that is enclosed by a deformable boundary.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to achieve a better quality of the final product, it is crucial to understand how the final pattern is formed, what are the major factors affecting the final pattern, and how to control the parameters to achieve the desired pattern? It is very challenging to obtain a general analytic solution to such a process. Hence, a numerical simulation is an appropriate approach. Prior numerical methods have done a poor job of conserving the total mass of the solute coupled with the evolution of the solute concentration. What is needed is a simulation method that does a good job of conserving the total mass of the solute.